Bangkok Life defers IPO again

 "We need to admit that the bankruptcy of a major investment bank like Lehman Brothers as well as the intervention for American International Assurance affected the global economy and stock exchanges, including the Thai market. Turnover here has been fluctuating and till now, nobody can predict when the crisis will be over. Therefore, we decided to delay the IPO and this should be better for the company," president Chan Vathanakul said yesterday.

 The IPO will be revived immediately after the situation improves, he said, adding that there is no rush as the proceeds were meant to strengthen the insurer's financial status, not to provide emergency funds.

Chan had said only last Tuesday the IPO would go ahead next month as planned despite the lingering political turmoil.

The company has set an indicative price range of Bt12.50-Bt14 for each of its 200 million IPO shares, which would raise Bt2.5 billion to Bt2.8 billion, he said at the time.

The float was originally slated for earlier this year, but was delayed due to the political conflict.

Bualuang Securities, the underwriter, insisted that the suspended IPO would not complicate Bangkok Life Assurance's expansion plans.